It could just be that history goes much slower than we might wish or expect. Every two steps forward might include a step back, but the thrust of the resettlement of the land of Israel begun by those disciples of the Vilna Gaon has led to historically astonishing results.
There is a lesson we can learn from the Vilna Gaon’s students who expected too much and were therefore disappointed. We too must be cautious not to expect too much too fast from the State of Israel. The past sixty years have seen historically unprecedented events – but that does not mean we do not have to wait for the final events to take place on their own schedule, not necessarily ours.
We have seen many steps forward and some back. Our job is to do everything in our power to build and live in the Torah tradition. We can let God decide the ultimate pace of history.